Wednesday

HINGHAM - Climate change took center stage Wednesday morning in a South Shore Chamber of Commerce forum featuring the two candidates for the 3rd Plymouth District state representative seat.

Democratic state Rep. Joan Meschino and her challenger, Republican Kristen Arute, tangled over the issue in light of a recent United Nations report outlining the dire consequences of global warming coming quicker than expected.

Asked what can be done on the district level, Meschino said that she wanted to file a bill in the next legislative session that could be a “road map” for Massachusetts on climate change going forward with aggressive benchmarks. She said that it would be important for the state to continue "greening the grid" by adding more renewable energy to the state’s profile.

Meschino said she has already been active in the state's response to climate change, pointing to grant money the district received from the state’s Office of Coastal Zone Management this year to improve coastal resilience and the passage of a $2 billion environmental bond bill aimed at climate change.

Arute, however, questioned Meschino’s role in securing those grants as well as her record on climate change.

“What has actually been done in the past two years? Because this was your platform in the 2016 election,” said Arute, who also ran against Meschino in the last election.

Arute said that in speaking with people in the district, she found that they were more concerned about storm damage than climate change.

“They are concerned about damage to their property, they are concerned about keeping their property protected,” Arute said.

Arute said she's already done some work on storm damage, saying she helped Hull residents get connected with the nonprofit Massachusetts Coastal Coalition after storm damage to a seawall there presented a danger to their homes. She said that the residents were able to put plans in place with the town to get the beach cleaned of debris.

Meschino said that climate change was her top priority. She said that the state needed to continue to improve public transit on the South Shore, which could include adding weekend trips to the Hull ferry service and adopting a more reliable and robust commuter rail schedule.

“Massachusetts can’t solve climate change, but we can take steps around the pieces within the ambit of our control,” Meschino said.

Arute said that her number one issue was infrastructure, including sea walls and roadways. She said that it was important to keep beaches well-maintained to avoid storm damage to people’s homes.

“It’s exploring unique options to mitigate storm damage,” Arute said. “It’s a matter of looking at each community as a unique community.”

Meschino said that beyond measures like improving sea walls, it’s important for the state to couple policy goals, such as the clean energy bill passed earlier this year, with on-the-ground fixes.

“You don’t get to ask for millions of dollars in seawall money without then working on the public policy piece,” Meschino said.

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